More
Close 
HOUSTON, TX (September 19, 2025) – The world of engineering made a pit stop at KIPP Sharpstown College Prep as middle school students enjoyed a three-day visit from the Texas Mobile STEM Lab. Each year, the popular traveling science, technology, engineering and math education program makes stops at select schools across the state. This was its first visit to the KIPP Sharpstown campus and students enjoyed hands-on engineering design challenges such as designing bottle rocket trucks and space capsules.
“We’ve applied twice for a lab visit and I was so thrilled that we were selected this year,” said Jasmine Hamilton, assistant principal of instruction for KIPP Sharpstown College Prep. “I just really wanted the kids to get exposure to real-world applications for what they are learning in the classroom.”
The Texas Mobile STEM Labs program includes nine dedicated mobile labs that reach more than 75,000 students across every region of Texas each year. The Texas state legislature funds the visits at no cost to schools. About 200 KIPP Sharpstown College Prep sixth, seventh, and eight graders visited the mobile STEM Lab at their campus. They worked cooperatively to design a product or process using curriculum developed by Learning Undefeated, with support from the Texas Education Agency (TEA).
Students became scientists, project managers and accountants as they pondered all aspects of their assigned engineering challenge including cost and design. During the bottle rocket truck class, students learned about Newton’s Laws of Motion. They used empty plastic water bottles to design rocket trucks that could be powered using the chemical reaction of baking soda and vinegar as a fuel source.
In the space capsules class, they discovered the benefits of using space capsules instead of space shuttles. They then used toy mini figures to design and test space capsules that are safe for human flight and can protect the astronauts that travel inside.
“In the STEM Lab, our students learned about all the professions associated with engineering,” Hamilton said. “This lays the foundation for how our students will envision future career opportunities.”
